Analysts have predicted that spending on biometric authentication methods will double over the next three years, reaching a total value of £44.8 billion by 2024.

Currently, the global biometrics market is worth £1.3 billion.

Experts at market intelligence firm Tractica say that the demand for biometric authentication is steadily emerging due to consumer concerns over identity fraud, as well as increasing acceptance of and familiarity with biometric methods among the general public.

Tractica says that organisations are also beginning to understand the value of integrating biometric authentication methods into existing password- or token-based systems, with a particular focus on facial and voice authentication.

The firm predicts that the types of biometric authentication likely to generate the most revenue include fingerprint, iris and voice authentication.

The technology is most likely to be widely adopted by consumer device authentication, mobile banking, ATMs, government IT systems, point of sale transactions and wearable device authentication.

Tractica said as a result of this, the industries likely to incorporate the technology quickly are most likely to be enterprise application, finance, consumer devices, healthcare, government, defence, education, law enforcement and non-governmental organisations.

Principal analyst Bob Lockhart said that the biometrics market “is here to stay”, creating a more secure alternative to passwords.

Yesterday, voice authentication company VoiceTrust announced that it is merging with software development firm USoft to form a specialist biometric authentication business.

BioTrust, as it will be called, will offer multi-modal biometric authentication technology, which will verify user identity with a combination of personal information and physical properties, such as voice patterns and facial features.

Patrick Dekker, BioTrust’s CEO, told Business Reporter that biometric authentication is taking off as trust in the traditional password declines.

“It’s largely understood now that no single password can be trusted anymore. The next logical step is to use yourself and your own identity as your password,” he said.

“Multi-modal means verifying identity through combining something you are, something you have and something you know.

“The part that you are can be verified through your voice, in combination with your fingerprints, your iris or your face.

“Maybe even in the future [this could be] combined with heart rhythm or my vein system – but that’s future talk.”